The complete guide to faking freckles

Who doesn’t need some sunshine sprinkle?

March 21, 2017

Photo: Pauline Suzor

Makeup: Josefina Zarmén

START WITH THE BASE
Use as light coverage as you feel comfortable in. The freckles will stick better to bare skin, so be careful not to use too much foundation. For light coverage, use a concealer and a little BB cream. Remember that the freckles too will provide some coverage! Be clever and cover spots with freckles.

If you want to highlight and/or contour, do it now. (Otherwise you will end up smudging your freckles.) For time efficiency you can actually contour your nose by placing freckles along the sides of your nose.

For this look, we kept the base simple and natural with some neutral eyeshadow, lightly filled brows and curled eyelashes. If you want just a hint of colour on your lips, prep them with lip balm and then dab on some naturally coloured lipstick, using your fingers.

TIME FOR FRECKLES!
Eye brow pencils are perfect for creating faux freckles – they are more ‘ashy’ in colour and won’t smudge like eye pencils do.

Step 1 – The idea is to create a base of light pigment spots. For this we used the Brow Specialist pencil in Caramel. Focus on spotting your cheeks and nose, but put some on your forehead and chin too – real freckles are all over! Hold the pencil straight out from your face and dab your skin while lightly twisting the pencil at the same time. Put a few freckles on the temples and your brow bone too.

Step 2 – Repeat the first step, now using a darker brow pencil – we used the Brow Specialist in Espresso. This time you don’t want to do as many freckles. Make sure to place them asymmetrically over your face, to keep the look as ‘real’ and natural as possible. If you want to contour your face with freckles, add more freckles where you would normally add contouring shades. If you are happy with your look, stop here and just lightly dust some translucent powder over your face to set the makeup.

Step 3 – If you want something more advanced, there is a trick to even more realistic faux freckles. Use a small, angled eyeshadow brush, some finishing powder in a darker shade and a little bit of water to paint on a few darker and more uneven freckles. Wet the sharp edge of the brush and dip it in powder. Carefully add spots to your face, lightly pressing your finger to them to blend them into your skin. Set with translucent powder.